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Belafonte Sues Martin Luther King Jr. Estate In NY

NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte has sued the estate of Martin Luther King Jr. in New York over the fate of three documents he tried to sell at auction.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. It seeks unspecified damages and a court declaration Belafonte is the rightful owner.

The documents are an outline of a Vietnam War speech by King, notes to a speech King never got to deliver in Memphis, Tenn., and a condolence letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson to King’s wife after the civil rights leader’s 1968 assassination.

The lawsuit says Belafonte was preparing to auction the items in 2008 when the estate blocked it.

A lawyer for the Atlanta-based King estate says he hasn’t seen the lawsuit and can’t comment.

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